This invention relates to a specimen holder clamp for a microtome, and more particularly, though not exclusively, to a clamp for use with a rotary microtome.
In known clamps for microtomes, particularly for rotary microtomes, a clamp is provided with a threaded spindle on which a movable jaw is mounted. By rotating the threaded spindle, the movable jaw is moved towards or away from a fixed jaw to vary the gripping width between the jaws. Thus, an object, for example, a specimen holder containing a thin-section specimen, can be clamped between these two jaws.
In such known clamps, the cutting direction of a microtome cutter is towards the movable jaw. This means that the mounting of the movable jaw is heavily stressed and is liable to breakdown. The life of the mounting usually determines the useful life of the clamp.
In addition, the clamping of specimen holders is time-consuming since if specimen holders of different sizes are to be clamped successively between the fixed and movable jaws, the dimensional differences of the specimen holders are accommodated by rotating the threaded spindle which can be a tedious operation.